


Parental Guidance NOT Needed

by steampunkepsilon



Series: Newmanndo Ficlets [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: College AU, M/M, Multi, ONE MORE TIME DADA DADAA OOH, Triad - Freeform, again with the cries, college triad babies and asshole Lars Gottlieb, steamy is an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:27:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2333570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steampunkepsilon/pseuds/steampunkepsilon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Hermann, Newt, and Tendo are in college, and Hermann's father feels the need to share his opinion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Parental Guidance NOT Needed

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of my Newmanndo Ficlets series. A separate piece, not a continuation.

Wednesday nights, considering that all three of them had late classes in the following morning, had established themselves as their sleep-over nights. Most often spent in Hermann's room because of the space and the bed, it was their catch-up night if they hadn't been able to see one another the first half of the week, and even though they usually got in late, they had time to shower (together) and talk and get some rest (or not, depending). Newt had a two hour lecture class on advanced biology on Wednesdays until seven, and while the subject matter was distinctly awesome, the professor was about ten years past his retirement, and he wasn't exactly the cool kind of old guy, so getting out even ten minutes early was enough to put him in a good mood. Tendo was also out at seven, and Hermann at five, but Tendo's class was in the building beside Hermann's dorm and he usually beat him there, considering his own class was at least a twenty minute walk with all the backtracking he had to do around the campus and its ridiculous layout. Phone vibrating in his pocket as he skittered out of the building with glee at having been able to escape a little before his time, he checked it, striding across the lawn towards the other side of the property.

 _Hermann's room. Pronto. -TC_

That along was almost enough to stop him in his tracks, and he furrowed his brow at the message, continuing on after just a brief pause in the late quiet of evening and typing away a quick reply. _On my way, what's up? -NG_

_Emergency.-TC_

Shit. _What kind of emergency? -NG_ he typed back, pace quickening a little as he hiked his backpack up a little more. 

_Bad emergency. Crying emergency. -TC_

_'Crying'_ and _'Hermann Gottlieb'_ didn't usually enter the same sentence, but when they did, it meant bad things, and bad enough things that it sent Newt skittering across the lawn until he could jump the short hedge and book it down the sidewalk towards the other side of campus. He reserved his moments of athleticism for emergencies only, and this was specifically a Hermann-crying-related-emergency, which more than qualified. He cut the walk in half, skipped the elevator and thumped up the stairs to the second level, whole body on fire and at least three or four of Hermann's neighbors likely irritated by the noise as he skidded to stop outside of his door, taking a long moment to breathe a little before he knocked. 

When a muffled 'come in' sounded, he tried his hardest not to flip the door off its hinges, opening it quickly but with some control left in him and stepping in so he could set his bag down. Just the lamp beside the bed was on and Hermann was sitting on the edge of the mattress with his face in his hands, Tendo seated behind him and rubbing his back slowly. He was shaking, elbows on his knees, and he didn't look up with Tendo as the door closed, a quick look beckoning him over. 

Newt swallowed and quietly headed towards them, pulling up the desk chair carefully and sitting so he was at eye level -- well, eye level if Hermann looked up. " Hermann? " he said quietly, still trying to force his breathing back to normal, though he wasn't the only one. The other man seemed to be teetering between quietly hyperventilating and not breathing at all, shoulders and chest trembling and sucking in air sharply now and then, still dressed in his clothes from class. " Hermann, hey. What is it, babe? "

He took another shuddering breath and made some kind of attempt to speak, but it dissolved into a choked sob and he shook his head, still looking down as he made some kind of gesture at Tendo. " His dad called, " he explained quietly, nodding at the phone lying on the floor halfway across the room. " And I don't know what he said, but it was about his majors and stuff, and it was bad. "

" Jesus, " he muttered, scowling a little at the thought. Hermann's father wasn't the kindest person on the planet, and he sure as hell wasn't to Hermann but if it was this bad then he must have done something to raise his ranks as a douche pretty damn high. " You wanna talk about it? " he said, touching Hermann's wrist gently and rubbing his arm a little when he didn't pull away. There was a pause while he shuddered with another inhale and tried to breathe out slowly, sniffing. 

" No, " he managed after a moment, voice barely above a choked whisper. " M-maybe. I don't...I don't know. " He lifted his head a little, rubbing furiously at his eyes -- his face was damp and splotchy, eyes red -- and sniffed again, swallowing tightly. " He...informed me that m-my major of choice was too... _too much for me to handle_ , " Hermann explained shakily. " That I wouldn't make it i-into the program, and... " It didn't last long and he clamped his eyes shut, mouth twisted in an attempt to stifle another sob, and Newt shook his head, glancing at Tendo as he squeezed his hand and reached up. He wasn't trying to hide it now, just sitting and breathing as best he could, and it made Newt's heart clench up a little more than usual when their third party cried. Seeing him cry at all was enough to make either of them follow suit, but they both were too focused on finding a way to help soothe the ache to worry about their own discomfort now. 

" Hey, man, fuck your dad. Dude doesn't know shit about you and he doesn't deserve to. " Newt stroked his hair back gently, hands sliding down to cup his face. " You're better at what you do than anyone in the world, and he's a stupid asshole who barely scraped his way out of university. " He kissed Hermann's forehead as he sniffed again lightly, reaching to wipe away another fresh bubble-up of tears with his sleeve as it threatened to spill over and dropping his hand back into his lap. Tendo rubbed a warm circle against the flat of his shoulder blade, his other arm wrapped around his waist, back to his chest, squeezing him gently. 

" Newt's right. If he's that much of a complete dick, then he isn't worth it, " he said gently, sliding his arm around his shoulder to hug him briefly. Hermann sniffed again, eyes still red and watery as he let out a shaky breath. " Even if he was just a little bit of a dick, he's still not worth it. No dick is worth it. "

That warranted a little huff of amusement from him, at least, and they exchanged a look, ganging up on him for another gentle embrace. After a moment of quiet, he wrapped one arm around Newt's back and the other over Tendo's hand, squeezing them shakily for a few seconds and sagging back against Tendo with another slow rub of his eyes against his sleeve. Dropping down on his knees for a moment, Newt moved to slip him out of his shoes and set them aside, hands rubbing his heels up his calves and to the backs of his knees slowly. He looked exhausted and still ready to burst into tears with enough of a nudge, but Tendo was kissing his shoulder and hugging him close and he seemed to be responding alright now. Once he'd given his bony legs a little more attention, Newt stood again, hands out expectantly. " Arms up, " he directed, and Hermann sighed shakily, lifting them with only a fraction of the trembling. With Tendo's help, the crewneck sweater was shucked up off his torso and neatly folded over the desk chair the way Hermann liked, leaving him in his shirt and slacks. Tendo untucked the cotton tee -- he tucked everything in, even T-shirts, and they'd caught him fidgeting with his pajama tops before, but they could postpone the good natured teasing -- and Newt got to work on his trousers, shimmying them down off his legs before he folded and laid them over with his sweater. Hermann went a little pink with the bareness, but only slightly; it was just them and the door was locked, and that was fine, even though he was sitting in his underwear with his feet pigeon-toed in and knees crowding each other. Force of modest habit.

Tendo kissed his shoulder again and hugged him close while Newt went to dig out some clothes -- God knew they had plenty of each others' things strewn between their rooms. Once he'd found some shorts and one of his spare shirts -- Queen, good sleepwear -- he knelt again, moving to shuffle them on around his ankles. Hermann frowned, rubbing his nose a little. " I can dress myself, " he insisted quietly, though he didn't stop him as he tugged them up. 

" I know, " he nodded, pausing with folded flannel pants around Hermann's knees and leaning down to kiss both of the knobby joints before he slid them underneath him until they settled around his waist, a little loose but elastic enough to stay where they were. " But I like helping. " 

" Ditto, " Tendo chimed in, and Hermann sighed softly, lifting his hands as he moved to help the shirt into place. He certainly didn't protest their assistance, still tired and a little red around the eyes but compliant. Once he was dressed, he watched them move to tug the covers back, crawling over as they beckoned and letting Newt and Tendo tuck and settle him down between them. He was stuck on his back, lest he wake up with his legs too stiff to move or his spine acting up, but they tugged the blankets up and pressed around him warmly, each hand occupied by one of theirs and feet tangled between four others. 

" You feel a little better? " Newt asked quietly as Tendo pawed the lamp switch until the room went dim, and Hermann took a slow breath, exhaling a little and closing his eyes before he nodded. 

" Much, " he murmured, a little calmer, his breathing quieted. He squeezed both of their hands in turn and went quiet again, still introspective but at least he wasn't...well. Quite as miserable looking. Tendo rolled back from the light and hugged his waist, tucking his chin against one shoulder and settling down against him in the bubble of warmth, and Hermann leaned his head against him a little. His voice was barely a whisper when he spoke again. " Thank you. Both of you. "

Newt joined Tendo's arm around their better third's middle and nuzzled against the fuzz of his undercut gently, and he was satisfied with the gesture when a weak twitch of a smile crossed Hermann's face. Before too long, though, the smile faded again and his breath slowed, and then after a bit he was still. It was almost ten minutes, but he cracked an eye open slowly, able to barely make out Tendo looking back at him across a slowly rising-and-falling collarbone. 

They smiled in united relief, did a little fist-bump over Hermann's stomach, and settled down to sleep.


End file.
